Some of the world’s best chefs – those who collect Michelin stars like some people collect stamps – know one of the best kept culinary secrets: some of the world’s best flavours come from Mexico.

And it’s not exciting new flavours bringing the world’s best chefs to Mexico.

Christopher Kostow of three-Michelin-starred Restaurant at Meadowood is a frequent visitor to Mexico City’s Mercado San Juan, a gourmet public food market. Of his travels to Mexico, he notes:

“I don’t know if you come to Mexico to learn what’s new, but rather you come to Mexico to learn what’s old. There are flavors of great depth, and there are techniques that are pretty challenging.”

Indeed, from California to Denmark, the world’s top chefs are utilising the ancient traditions, spices and recipes of Mexico’s indigenous cultural groups.

Copenhagen’s Noma was recently named the best restaurant in the world. Its chef, Mexican-American Rosio Sanchez has recently altered her recipe for the Gammel Dansk recipe, using tequila and cactus juice – a far cry from traditional Danish cooking.

You could argue that Mexican cuisine has seen an image enhancement. This is no longer thought of as a cuisine of heavy sauces, refried beans and sour cream. Exotic flavours and foods – from ant larvae to quelites to crunchy grasshoppers – are finding their way on to plates across the globe.

But that’s just some of what’s on offer.

Many chefs are beginning to blend Mexican flavours into their own cooking. Coriander, moles, Serrano chiles and cactus juices are becoming much more popular with chefs all over the world. The flavours are bold and exciting and compliment many styles of cooking. For the indigenous people of Mexico, they can look at this trend and think: ‘We knew it all along.’